Guard gives his side of shooting

Tuesday

Aug 28, 2007 at 12:02 AMAug 28, 2007 at 6:27 AM

STOCKTON - After the gunbattle, there was a girl on the floor and a man choking on blood in the parking lot. Police said he had tried to rob a southside grocery store Saturday, before a security guard shot and killed him.

David Siders

STOCKTON - After the gunbattle, there was a girl on the floor and a man choking on blood in the parking lot. Police said he had tried to rob a southside grocery store Saturday, before a security guard shot and killed him.

"It was almost close to closing time," said Joseph Garrett, 39, the security guard who killed 19-year-old Edgar Ibarquen Angulo.

Angulo had entered the Super Mercado La Amapola on South El Dorado Street and had a gun, Stockton police said Monday. Garrett, 39, slipped behind a case of Red Bull.

"He saw me, actually, make a move, and he said, 'Where you at? Where are you?' " Garrett said. "I stuck my head out. ... He shot twice."

"I shot him, and you know, he kept moving, so I kept coming towards him, between him and the 16-year-old girl," Garrett said.

The 16-year-old girl, store manager Rogelio Macedo said, is a high school student and a part-time cashier. She was on the floor during the shootout, he said.

Garrett said Angulo crashed through the front door as he staggered out. In the parking lot, Angulo continued to fire as Garrett reloaded his gun and the cashier dialed 911, Garrett said. He said he had emptied his magazine, shooting eight or nine times.

Garrett said he feared for a woman and a child in a car in the store's parking lot and went outside, where he said the shooting stopped, yet Angulo still moved.

"I kicked the gun out of his hand," he said. "He was gurgling on blood."

Police identified the slain man Monday as Angulo, who lived in the 1500 block of Pecos Circle, but his family could not be reached.

Stockton police Officer Pete Smith, a department spokesman, said Angulo attempted to rob the store, confronted a guard and "a gunbattle ensued." He said the security guard is not in custody and that no charges are pending.

The office of the San Joaquin County District Attorney will decide if any charge should be filed. It had yet to review the case. Garrett said police told him "in so many words that I really will have nothing to worry about." Garrett said he did his job, regrettable though it is.

An off-duty Stockton Unified School District officer was in the area and came when he heard gunshots, Smith said. The officer handcuffed Angulo, which is standard procedure, Smith said. Angulo was pronounced dead at the scene.

No one other than Angulo was injured, police said. The cashier on Monday was "OK," Macedo said.

Garrett said he is sorry for Angulo's family. He said to tell them, "I send my condolences." But he said he worries about the cashier, too.

"I think to myself, why did it have to happen?" he said. "What makes a guy make this choice, walking in a store, thinking it's OK to put a gun to a 16-year-old?"

Record staff writer Keith Reid contributed to this report.

Contact reporter David Siders at (209) 943-8580 or dsiders@recordnet.com.